


One Year, and Not One Day More

by Mother_Hen



Category: Villains Series - V. E. Schwab
Genre: A pale stringy boy, Father-Daughter Relationship, Found Family, Sometimes a found family is just:, a big bald tattooed man, a teenaged necromancer, and their giant dog, post-Vengeful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 06:36:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23967007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mother_Hen/pseuds/Mother_Hen
Summary: That first night after Victor left, Sydney Clarke didn’t dream. She was granted a single night of dark, boundless sleep. It was cool and quiet, and she didn’t think of anything at all. When she woke up, it was late afternoon, but she was as exhausted as if she hadn’t gotten any sleep at all.Then the nightmares returned.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	One Year, and Not One Day More

**Author's Note:**

> This one goes out to VE Schwab, who broke my heart with the ending of Vengeful.

That first night after Victor left, Sydney Clarke didn’t dream. She was granted a single night of dark, boundless sleep. It was cool and quiet, and she didn’t think of anything at all. When she woke up, it was late afternoon, but she was as exhausted as if she hadn’t gotten any sleep at all.

Then the nightmares returned.

She was still on the lake, that frozen, soulless place she would never escape. It was as much a part of her now as the powers it had given her. It would probably haunt her dreams until the day she died. Serena wasn’t there anymore, though. For the moment, neither was Eli. She was alone on the ice.

Turning in a circle, she surveyed the shore. Two figures loomed in the distance. Mitch’s hulking form was there, with Dol slightly in front of him. Dol pawed at the ice, whimpering and shuffling back to shore when it splintered. Mitch called for her to come back. _I haven’t left_ , she wanted to say, but her voice froze on its way up her throat.

It wasn’t a crack in the ice that made her look down; it was an instinct. A feeling. A _maldición_. But when she looked down, Dominic’s face stared back at her from underneath the clouded ice. He was unmoving, his hand outstretched and streaked with frozen blood. She startled, falling back. The ice should have frozen her bare hands, but they were already freezing.

There was a sound behind her, a soft tread of footsteps. Her first instinct was to whirl around, thinking it was Eli. Then she remembered that Eli was dead. She had killed him herself, putting a bullet in his skull with a grim sort of vengeance. Repayment for all the times he’d killed her in her nightmares. She made herself get up, slowly. Whoever it was, she would face them on her feet, unafraid. Finally, she turned around, and her heart stopped in her chest.

Victor Vale stood in front of her, weary and gaunt as the last time she’d seen him. He was dressed from head to toe in white. With his pale clothes, and his pale skin, and his pale hair, he almost blended into the landscape. Hardly breathing, Sydney moved toward him, until they were only an arm’s length apart. Then, he turned around and ran.

“No!” she gasped, sprinting after him on her short legs. He was headed towards the far shore, towards the tree line, his white coat flapping behind him. She knew that if he disappeared through there, she would never find him again. He was taller, but years of dying and coming back to life had left him weakened and sickly. She could catch him.

There were more footsteps behind her. She risked a glance over her shoulder and saw that Mitch and Dol had decided to brave the ice, following them. Following her following him.

Emboldened, she picked up the pace, her heaving breaths trailing behind her in vapory clouds. She drew nearer and nearer to Victor. At last, she reached out, and right as her fingers brushed his coat, she slipped and crashed down onto the ice. Behind her, the lake split open. Mitch and Dol plunged under the water. Crying out, she moved towards them, but the ice cracked with every step she took. Torn, she looked at them, then at Victor, then back at them. As water welled up through the cracks in the ice, she wrenched herself away and chased after Victor again.

The lake wasn’t very large, maybe a few hundred feet across, but it seemed like the longer they ran, the farther the shore became. The farther he became. She was crying now, sobbing, tears freezing halfway down her face. Her desperate gasps for breath turned erratic. Her steps faltered, and she slowed, then stopped. He was almost to the shore.

“Victor!” she screamed, his name tearing out of her throat. Her voice echoed, and then all was silent, save for the sound of his distant footsteps. He did not stop. He didn’t even look back.

She made a strangled sound. As soon as she started running again, the ice crackled, and she plunged into the dark water below.

\-----

Sometimes, she would almost catch him. Other times, she didn’t even come close. But no matter what she did, the dream always ended the same.

Always, _always_ , he got away.

But she never, _ever_ stopped trying.

She would kick at the water and claw at the ice and try to heave herself back up. She would scream his name, begging him to come back. To stop running away. To keep her safe. But the water stole her breath and pulled her down with icy fingers. As she looked up at the surface, black crept in around the edges of her vision, and then it was completely and utterly quiet.

She used to be jolted out of her nightmares, the hiss and snap of the lake giving way ringing in her ears, her heart rate through the roof. Now, she was dragged awake. As she came to, she stared at the ceiling of wherever she, Mitch, and Dol were staying - a hotel, a rented apartment, their stolen car. Fingers clenching, she grasped for the invisible thread that tethered her to Victor. He couldn’t hide from her. Not forever. The only way he could would be to die, and if he did that, Sydney would find him and bring him back so she could kill him herself.

For one year, she, Mitch, and Dol would bounce from city to city, from hotel to car to apartment, never staying in one place for too long. For one year, they would stay as far away from Merit as possible. For one year, they would let Victor hide.

For one year, and not one day more, Sydney would build her strength, test the limits of her power, hone her skills. She would find a method to the madness that was bringing EOs back to life. Then, she would find him. And she would fix what she had broken, so he could finally stay. Then maybe, just maybe, she could stay atop the ice.


End file.
